Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Directors:

Alfred E. Green
Jack Pickford

Writers:

Frances Hodgson Burnett (novel)
Bernard McConville (writer)

Release Date:

15 September 1921 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.

Plot Keywords:

Dual Role | Boy Played By Woman | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Mary Pickford	...	Cedric Errol / Widow Errol
Claude Gillingwater	...	Earl of Dorincourt
Joseph J. Dowling	...	William Havisham (as Joseph Dowling)
James A. Marcus	...	Hobbs (as James Marcus)
Kate Price	...	Mrs. McGinty
Fred Malatesta	...	Dick
Rose Dione	...	Minna
Arthur Thalasso	...	The Stranger
Colin Kenny	...	Bevis
Emmett King	...	Reverend Mordaunt
Madame De Bodamere	...	Mrs. Higgins
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jackie Condon	...	Child in opening scene w / hat
Gordon Griffith	...	Boy who steals grapes
Francis Marion	...	Minna's Son

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Spain:T

Company:

Mary Pickford Company

Trivia:

Whilst double exposures had been used as early as 1898 to show two characters together in the same scene, played by the same actor, this is the first instance of two such characters seeming to touch one another.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1995)

Mary Pickford and Charles Rosher too

I doubt if the costuming involved in this movie fooled anyone for an instant. Mary Pickford is clearly Mary Pickford. But she was playing a role and the audience of the time -- and I -- have no problem accepting her in the part of a boy, any more than I have a problem with the fact that Peter Pan is invariably played by a woman. I think she is perfect in the role.

This is a warm and funny version of the story, enlivened by Miss Pickford and a wonderful supporting cast, including Claude Gillingwater as the grouchy earl, D.W. Griffith regular Kate Bruce as an old apple seller and Mary Pickford as Fauntleroy's mother. People may have trouble with the sentimental story and tone, but if you accept the tale then you should have no complaints as to its manner of telling. Again, I have no problem with the story and think it compares favorably with the sound version produced by Selznick fifteen years later. True, no one can top C. Aubrey Smith as a grouchy English aristocrat, but Freddy Bartholomew was always annoying as Fauntleroy -- or, indeed, as anything.

No discussion of this movie would be complete without mentioning cameraman Charles Rosher's wizardry. There is a wonderful shot as Pickford as Fauntleroy kisses Dearest on the cheek, done so casually and effortlessly as to make it easy to miss; but it took 18 hours to film correctly. We are also confronted with the fact that Pickford as Fauntleroy seems to be about four and a half feet tall. Miss Pickford was a short woman, but she was a lot taller than that. Fans of the LORD OF THE RING trilogy are doubtless now familiar with the idea of forced perspective and doubled sets; but to watch the results done in 1921 without computer aids, optical printing or computer effects to aid the process and you will begin to get an idea of what a genius Rosher was.

My warmest thanks to the fine people at Milestone for producing this DVD release. The story is that Miss Pickford was going to have her pictures destroyed at her death because she felt that time had passed them by. She was talked out of this fancy. We can only be glad.